1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to toy vehicles. More particularly, it relates to radio controlled toy vehicles having transformation capabilities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Toy vehicles are well known, and remotely (radio) controlled toys vehicles have come to constitute a significant specialty toy market. There are many different types of radio controlled toy vehicles on the market, such as, for example, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, trucks and flying vehicles as well. As such, there is significant competition to create different toy vehicles, in any one of these types of vehicles, that can perform differently and provide the user with a greater variety of actions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,533 discloses a toy vehicle with adjustably positioned wheels. Each wheel is mounted on separate support housings. The wheels are mounted for rotation on the housings, and which housings are mounted off center to the axis of wheel rotation. As such, the support housings rotate eccentrically around the axle with the wheels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,655 discloses a toy vehicle with an adjustable suspension system. The toy vehicle includes a wheel support and suspension system that allows the user to manually lift or lower the suspension of the toy. The suspension system utilizes hollow plastic tubes which include a flexible zone with a plurality of circumferential corrugations which enable the tube to be stretched to sequential lengths until the corrugations assume a longitudinally spaced position.
It is therefore an aspect of the invention to provide a toy vehicle having dynamically configurable variable wheel positions.
It is another aspect of the invention to provide a toy vehicle that allows the user to dynamically change the wheelbase, center of gravity (cog), front/rear weight distribution, ground clearance, attitude (i.e., angle to ground plane), and 6) the suspension travel with respect to the chassis/body.
These and other aspects of the invention are achieved with a radio controlled toy vehicle having a body with front and rear ends, and a front swing arm assembly pivotally connected to the body and having at least one front mounted wheel and a steering mechanism connected to the at least one wheel and operative to steer the toy vehicle in a desired direction. A transformation system is disposed in the body and connected to the front swing arm assembly for pivoting the assembly and causing the at least one front wheel to be raised and lowered with respect to the body. Circuitry for receiving radio commands from a remote transmitter and controlling the steering mechanism and the transformation:system is included with the vehicle body.
A rear swing arm assembly is pivotally connected to the body and connected to said transformation system. The rear swing arm assembly includes at least one rear mounted wheel and a drive mechanism connected to the at least one wheel. The drive system selectively drives said rear wheel in response to received radio control commands. The transformation system pivots the rear swing arm assembly in response to received radio control commands.
The transformation system includes transformation control motor, a front transformation gear, a rear transformation gear, and a plurality of differential gears connecting said front and rear transformation gears to said motor such that activation of said motor causes said front and rear gears to actuate said front and rear swing arm assemblies, respectively. The front transformation gear and rear transformation gear each have an output gear ratio, wherein the output gear ratios of said front and rear transformation gears are different with respect to each other.
The steering mechanism includes a steering servo mounted with said front swing arm assembly, and a steering servo tie rod operatively connected to the at least one front wheel. The steering servo tie rod being mounted with said front swing arm assembly such that steering is enabled in any pivotal position of said front swing arm assembly.
The drive mechanism includes a drive motor mounted with the rear swing arm assembly and a plurality of gears connecting the drive motor to the at least one rear wheel. The drive mechanism moves with the rear swing arm assembly during pivotal motion to enable constant driving control over the at least one rear wheel in any pivotal position of the rear swing arm assembly.
A suspension system is integrated into the pivotal connections of said front and rear swing arm assemblies and includes a suspension travel distance for each of the front and rear swing arm assemblies. The suspension travel distance for the front and rear swing arm assemblies is dependent on the pivotal position of the swing arm assemblies with respect to said body.
According to another aspect of the invention, the radio controlled toy vehicle includes a body having front and rear ends and a rear swing arm assembly pivotally connected to the body and having at least one rear mounted wheel and a drive mechanism connected to the at least one wheel operative to selectively drive the rear wheel in response to received radio control commands.
A transformation system is disposed in said body and is connected to the rear swing assembly for pivoting the same and causing the at least one rear wheel to be raised and lowered with respect to the body. The transformation system pivots the rear swing arm assembly in response to received radio control commands.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.